


The Pros of Dating a Thief

by Roshwen



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Accidental Midnight Hacking, Cassandra doesn't mind, Ezekiel being his adorable criminal self, F/M, Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 16:21:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12891837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roshwen/pseuds/Roshwen
Summary: Cassandra is broke. Her parents are loaded. Time for Ezekiel to do a little wealth distribution.





	The Pros of Dating a Thief

**Author's Note:**

> OK, I managed one day without posting anything and I'm already back. Whoops. I'm not making any promises about posting every x days though, just when inspiration strikes. At least it's something to while away the time until December 13th... Have fun with this one!

Cassandra is broke. Because that’s what happens when you’re up to your ears in medical debt and used to survive on the salary of a New York hospital janitor, which is not exactly generous. After seven years of penny-pinching, it can take a while before your finances catch up with you again, even though the salary of a Librarian is pretty decent.

She tries to hide it behind a cheerful disposition and a lot of adorable outfits, but Ezekiel grew up in a house where every penny was weighed at least three times before it was spent and he knows the signs. The outfits are adorable, but they’re also various combinations of the same dozen or so items. Knowing Cassandra, this is not exactly by choice or out of some hippy sense of minimalism.

She only joins them for after-case dinner and drinks once a month, near the end of every month. Ezekiel makes sure they don’t head for some fancy four star place when Cassandra joins them, he steers them to something low key and casual instead, but Cassandra still, invariably, orders from the cheapest items on the menu. Just a main course, no starter or dessert and one soft drink that comes with free refills. Ezekiel ordered her a brownie for dessert once, telling her it was his treat. She had given him such a grateful smile he almost did not catch the embarrassment behind it. After that, he and Stone took turns ‘treating’ her every time she joined them. Ezekiel doesn’t know if Stone knows why they do that. It doesn’t matter.

\---

Then there is the night that Cassandra takes Ezekiel back to her place. Between the kissing and the groping and the glorious sensation of _fucking finally_ he doesn’t notice until the reality of Cassandra’s life hits him the next morning. Ezekiel has seen shoeboxes bigger than Cassandra’s apartment. The furniture is a rickety mismatch pulled from secondhand stores and Craigslist, the kitchen is a veritable fire hazard and when he gets into the shower, he is pretty sure that patch of black mold in the corner is waving at him.

He doesn’t say anything. Just gets his shower over with as quickly as possible, then joins Cassandra in the kitchen where he tries not to wince at the ancient gas pipes behind the stove.

He doesn’t say anything but instead snakes his arms around her from behind and drops a good morning kiss into that creamy skin at the back of her neck. She hums, leans into him so that soft curls tickle against his cheek as she turns her head and catches him in a proper kiss.

‘It’s just oatmeal, I’m afraid,’ she mutters a little shyly as they break away, Ezekiel’s hands still fidgeting and toying with her shirt because now that he is allowed to touch, he is not planning on letting go anytime soon. ‘I wasn’t counting on guests.’

Ezekiel never particularly cared for oatmeal, but when Cassandra hands him a bowl he smiles, kisses her again and tells her it looks delicious.

That afternoon, Cassandra’s landlord gets a phone call. The next day, there is one man fixing the piping and wiring in the kitchen while another is doing something nasty and chemical-smelling to the bathroom. When Cassandra knocks on the landlord’s door to ask what’s happening, he just gives her a terrified look and slams the door shut, bolting it before she can knock again.

(It doesn’t matter. He will be arrested a year later, because Ezekiel can excuse many things but he draws the line way, _way_ before possessing child pornography).

\---

And so it goes. Ezekiel does not comment, does not ask, does not tell Cassandra that it’s okay, he’s got it now. But he pulls strings where he can, he treats her whenever he thinks he might get away with it (which is pretty often after they’ve started dating) and he never complains when something turns out a little more bare-bones than he would have liked it to be.

(To be fair, some bare-bones dates are the best of all. He’ll take a picnic blanket, a cheap bottle of wine and potato chips under a moonlit sky full of stars over a romantic suite at the Ritz any day).

Then one day Cassandra gets a phone call that leaves her more furious and upset than Ezekiel has ever seen her. After the tears have dried up and after Cassandra’s urge to punch a hole through the nearest wall has abated a little, Ezekiel learns two things.

The first thing is that Cassandra’s parents are the worst. He already had his suspicions, but after Cassandra tells him how they dropped her like a stone after she was diagnosed, only to call her now after they’d learned that her tumor was gone and ask her when she’s coming home, Ezekiel is sure.

The second thing is that Cassandra’s parents are loaded. Which is pretty useful information when you’re the best thief in the world, a brilliant hacker to boot and your girlfriend just cried herself to sleep in your arms. The fact that he’s a little drunk may or may not be a factor here as well, because after the phone call it was high time to break out the tequila.

He doesn’t even remember doing it. Only thinks about it again a couple of days later, when he does a routine check of his various accounts to see if everything is still where it’s supposed to be. It takes him a couple of minutes to figure out why one of the numbers is significantly higher than it was supposed to be, but then he goes to find Cassandra in the Annex and asks if she could come to his office for a moment. Stone starts to smirk and Eve is about to tell them _no we’re still at work just wait until you get home,_ when they catch the sheepish look on his face and let Cassandra go without further comment.

When Ezekiel tells Cassandra what he’s done, he is just in time to catch her before her knees give out.

‘How much?’ she asks once she’s got her voice back and after Ezekiel has gently guided her to sit in his chair. Her hands are clasped in front of her mouth and she stares at Ezekiel with eyes that are huge and full of an emotion he does not quite understand. He just hopes it’s a good one.

‘Just your college fund,’ he says, reaching up and taking her hands in his to stop them from shaking. ‘I didn’t touch the rest but I thought, well, they set this aside for you so. Why shouldn’t you, you know. Actually have it.’

Just the college fund. Enough to pay for four years at one of the most prestigious schools in the country, plus a little extra for a graduate degree.

‘I can give it back, if you want me to,’ Ezekiel offers after Cassandra has been sitting in pale-faced silence for a couple of long minutes, eyes closed and breathing ragged. ‘I don’t think they’ve noticed it’s gone yet, so.’

Cassandra swallows. ‘No,’ she says, surprising Ezekiel a little and herself a lot, judging by the way her eyes suddenly snap open. ‘No, I… I mean.’ She swallows again, then looks at Ezekiel with sudden worry as a thought hits her and she whispers: ‘Won’t they call the police?’

Ezekiel grins the shark-toothed grin of a man who likes to cause very unpleasant people a lot of unpleasantness. ‘Nah. Because if he does that, he also gets to explain why your college fund was hidden behind three different shell companies. Or why he hasn’t paid any taxes over it for the past twenty years.’ He shakes his head. ‘You know, for a lawyer your dad is not exactly doing things the legal way.’

‘He never has,’ Cassandra mutters before she reaches for Ezekiel, who pulls her as close as he can. Arms wrapped tight around her slender frame, he drops a kiss to the top of her head as she buries her face into the folds of his hoodie. He doesn’t offer an apology and Cassandra doesn’t thank him. There’s no need for that, because Ezekiel’s hands rubbing a soothing path up and down Cassandra’s back and Cassandra’s hands scrunched tight into the back of Ezekiel’s hoodie already speak volumes.

They don’t give the money back. Instead, Cassandra gives Ezekiel a list with bills to settle and after that, the Portland Public Library receives an anonymous but sizable donation from a mysterious benefactor.

\---

Ezekiel almost regrets what he did two months later, when Cassandra drags him along on a shopping trip and buys a truly _astonishing_ amount of clothes and more shoes than even a millipede could wear in a lifetime. Almost. Because when he takes her to dinner that evening and he looks at her, sitting across from him in a new dark blue dress that forms a breathtaking contrast with her pale skin and flaming hair, all he can think is: _fucking worth it._


End file.
